Octavia Butler rejected genre constraints, yet she merits recognition as the first African-American woman writer to achieve success in science fiction and fantasy as well as mainstream fiction. Science in her novels is often time travel, biology, or social science, versus rocket science, astronomy, or cybernetics. The setting may be a complex alien world or an unfamiliar setting on Earth, but humanity's misuse of intelligence to dominate others is usually at the story's core. With lean, powerful prose Butler spun compelling narratives focused on slavery, victimization, classicism, and racism. This award-winning author died in 2006. Start with: Kindred

Octavia Butler rejected genre constraints, yet she merits recognition as the first African-American woman writer to achieve success in science fiction and fantasy as well as mainstream fiction. Science in her novels is often time travel, biology, or social science, versus rocket science, astronomy, or cybernetics. The setting may be a complex alien world or an unfamiliar setting on Earth, but humanity's misuse of intelligence to dominate others is usually at the story's core. With lean, powerful prose Butler spun compelling narratives focused on slavery, victimization, classicism, and racism. This award-winning author died in 2006. Start with: Kindred